Process of plating



Patented Mar. 24, 1 9311 UNI .o .TTES

WI LIAM J. waieHToN AND EDGAR n. TILLYER, QESO THBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS 'IO AMERICAN OPTICAL COMPANY; oEsoUTnBRIpeE, MAS CHUSETTS,

A VOLUNTABY ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS raocEss E 'PLATINe No Drawing.

This invention relates to improvements in metal articles and to an improved process of electro-plating the saine,-and has particular reference to an improved process for makiiig such an article by plating it with the samematerial of which it iscoinposed.

The principal obiect of the invention is to produce an improved. homogeneous metallic i worked so as to eliminate the grain or other evidences of'distortion which has been produced by working the metal.

Another object of-the invention is to problemishes on the metal after it has. been worked by plating it with its own material..

Another'object of the invention is to provide simple, efficient and economical means of plating an article after it has been worked to give it a finish that will eliminate Working blemishes ()ther objects and advantages of the invention Will be apparent from the following description and it will be understood that changes may be made in the steps of the process without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in theaccompanying claims. 7e, therefore, do not wish to belimited to the exact matters described as the preferred forms and order ofsteps have been given by Way of illustration only.

It is well known that certain metals may be made and worked into finished articles but that the working will create a grain, a wavelike appearance or other blemishes or evidences of distortion in the finished article due to'the drawing, rolling and other-operations through which the material has passed to produce the completed article. This causes the metal to look irregular and mars its appearance, particularly in articles where a high polish, luster and surface are required.

It is, therefore, the object of our invention to provide an improved process 'by' which these evidences of distortion may be removed and thearticle may begmade of'inaterial Application filed A ril 2, 1928. Seria1 No;'266,870i

' which hitherto could not be made due to these defe cts,

Ifthe preferred form of the process we use the followingprocedure: If for example wegwish to make an eyeglass frame, say of n ckel, we -take apiece of nickel wireand drawit through the drawing rolls to the re-' quired size. W e then roll it through the grooving rolls to roll in vthelens receiving groove. This forms the eye wires-of the frame- We then roll the material for the bridge to desired proportions and bend the same forg-its, connection to therims and for the ar'chgof the nose. dVeneXt provide end pieces for the. temples" which are preferably then secure; the ends-of the bridge to the rims or eye wires and connect the two rims and then wefasten onthe end pi CBS so that tlie r insoreye wires providetemple connections. -This'. produces an eyeglass frame completely n ade ofi ickel buton observation it will be found that the surface of the nickel will show a grain, strain lines and other blemishes due to the; drawing, rolling, pressa ing and other. operations as described above in producing the article. These evidencesof distortion are not only on the surface of the material but extend throughout the Whole body of the material and cannot thus be re:

moved by polishing, planing or other finishe pressed out in a; die'pi'essing machine WVe.

ing operations, as could scratches orother surface blemishes which could be polished out or removed. e next polish the rough frame which weliave produced as'described above until it has a Smooth even surface and polish 'so-it will receivethe plating material. The article is then placed in a nickel electroplating bath and is electroplated with nickel, which is the same material of which the rough article was made;

.After the articleis plated to a sufficient thickness it is removed from the bath and polished in the usual manner .on bufiing wheels and other polishing devices. plating will be smooth'and uniform without the grain or evidences of distortion pro- The duced by "the workingbeing apparent, and

surface blemishesand defects are also'reemoved and a goodlooking commercial prodill not results. It Will be notedthat While the article is apparently a plated one, in reality it is one homogeneous article in which none of the evidences of distortion are visible.

Inthe fore'going description we have used nickel as the plating material andhaive' pro- 7 duced a commercial eyeglass frame: It is lear ha e he mater lsia abl of electroplating can be used in the same vary and that other articles than eyeglass frames can be produced.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that We have provided simple, eflicient and economical means 'forproducingtour invention, carrying out our process to obtain the'desired results. j

Having described our invention, wed-aim: 1. Thcpr'ocess of producinganarticle of inmmfacture ,from nickel. ivhose properties are desired but which has "a lo w'elasticlimit causing it to partially fracture and pit' under ordinary shaping conditions, comprising shaping the nickel to the shape of the reuired article by stretching it beyond its elastic limit and thereafter filling t'liesu'rfacefracturesand pits with nickel which has not been v'i'orl'iedbeyondit's elastic'limit.

2.- Aln article ofjnianufacture',1tlie product of saidpr'oces's, comprising a nickel article,

the main body of which has been stretched beyond its elastic limitand' a supplemental coating of nickel which has not been "stretched beyond its elastic limit, said coating of nickel filling in fractures and pits caused by'stre'tching the main body beyond its elastic limit. YVILLIAM J 'WRIGHTON. EDGARD. 'TILLYER. 

